SLC6A1 – a generalized epilepsy phenotype emerging

GAT1. When we first identified SLC6A1 in 2015, we were surprised that a significant proportion of patients with disease-causing variants in this gene had a rare epilepsy phenotype referred to as Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy (MAE). Typically, at the time of gene discovery, it is often unclear how far the phenotypic spectrum expands. In a recent publication in Epilepsia, we reviewed the phenotype of 34 patients with SCL6A1-related epilepsy. Surprisingly, in contrast to many other epilepsy genes that showed a broad and occasionally non-specific phenotypic range, the SLC6A1-related phenotype expands beyond MAE, but remains centered around generalized epilepsies with a predominance of absence seizures and atonic seizures. It is a gene that has started to write its own story. Continue reading

Epilepsy genetics in 2018 – Three things that will happen and three things that won’t

Bomb Cyclone. While the entire US East Cost was held hostage by a weather system that introduced us to new catchy meterological concepts such as bombogenesis, I hope that everybody is staying warm and safe. I wanted to wish all our readers a Happy 2018 and try to give an outlook of the New Year in epilepsy genetics.  Here are three things in epilepsy genetics that will happen in 2018 – and three things that won’t. Continue reading